Labour Ministry intervenes in layoffs at Consolidated Bank

The Employment and Labour Relations Minister, Ignatius Baffour Awuah has stated that he will by the end of the week meet with stakeholders and workers of the Consolidated Bank alongside some labour unions to address their concerns.

Among other things, the meeting would seek to deliberate on labour plans for the consolidated bank and what would be factored in case labour restructuring was necessary.

Some reports suggest that the consolidated bank will lay off 1,700 workers out of the 3,700 staff that it assumed from the five banks in order to cut down on cost in managing 191 branches of the bank.

However, about seven hundred workers of defunct Beige bank have been asked to go home by the end of this week.

In an interview with Citi Business News, Ignatius Baffour Awuah said it is critical he meets with the stakeholders in order to in order to address the concerns of all those involved.

“Before the end of the week, I am going to meet stakeholders including some of the workers of the Consolidated Bank and the Bank of Ghana as well as the various labour unions,”he stated.

He explained that although the law permits for employers to undertake redundancy exercises, due process needed to be followed.

“The laws of Ghana do allow employers to do away with workers but then there are conditions that ought to be met and my duty is to get firsthand information as to what the labour plans are for the Consolidated Bank and if there is a need for some kind of labour restructuring that is going to be done I will want to exactly what will go into that”.